Wednesday 1 October 2008 19.01 EDT
First published on Wednesday 1 October 2008 19.01 EDT

Europe's mission to replace Russian forces inside Georgia began modestly yesterday when the first EU armoured vehicles began patrolling inside the so-called buffer zone next to Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia.

After negotiations with Russian troops, two EU vehicles slipped past their checkpoint at the village of Karaleti yesterday morning. They spent 90 minutes touring villages occupied by Russian forces before returning to Georgian-controlled territory. This symbolic outing by a handful of French military policemen, unarmed but wearing dark blue berets and EU armbands, marked the beginning of the EU's deployment in four regions of Georgia.It was not clear whether the EU's arrival means Russia will now pull out. Under a revised agreement between France's President Nicolas Sarkozy and Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev, Moscow has until October 10 to remove its military from generous buffer zones next to South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Last night Medvedev indicated Russia would leave on time. "Russian peace-keepers will be withdrawn from Georgia within the agreed dates," he said. Hansjörg Haber, EU mission head, said: "The process has begun. We are entering the adjacent areas. This is the beginning of the takeover."

Yesterday, however, there was no evidence of a Russian withdrawal. Troops at Karaleti, 5km north of the city of Gori, in central Georgia, stopped and searched Georgian civilian vehicles. The Russian flag flew above a roadside camp.

Residents in the buffer zone, most of whom fled during August's brief war between Russia and Georgia, said South Ossetian paramilitaries continued to rampage in the area. The militias burned down houses belonging to ethnic Georgians, kidnapped civilians and stole cattle, they said.

"The Russians are not doing anything to stop this. They are just standing around," Givi Goligashvili, 68, told the Guardian, riding his donkey cart to the buffer zone village of Garejvari. "The Ossetians are taking all the cattle from the villages and making the Georgians leave. The Ossetians are now the rulers here."

Giuli Kasradze, 53, from Ergneti, said: "If the Europeans and the Georgian police are in position, we will go back." She showed photos on her mobile phone of her gutted two-storey home, saying Ossetian paramilitaries had burned it down, returning on Monday and setting fire to the last 12 houses in the nearby village of Disevi.

Aid workers yesterday said the region's refugee problem would be largely solved if the Russians left. Some 12,000 displaced residents who fled the conflict are camping out in Gori - 2,200 of them in a well-organised tent city on a central sports field. Another 37,000 are staying in Tbilisi.

"Ninety per cent are from the buffer zone. As soon as the Russians withdraw we expect the vast majority to go back," said Stefano Berti, the UN refugee agency's head of field operations in Gori. He added: "The mere presence of EU monitors helps. It gives the impression that the international community is here."

The Kremlin has given ambiguous signals about possible restrictions on the movements of the 323-strong EU force, which includes monitors from the UK. On Tuesday Russian officials hinted that the EU would not be allowed into the buffer zone. Yesterday Russian soldiers at Karaleti said this was mere western mischief-making.

"As you can see, the EU came here, no problem," a Russian officer standing at the Karaleti checkpoint told the Guardian, as French and Polish monitors began an afternoon patrol. "To suggest otherwise is to make a sensation." Asked when he intended to leave, he said: "We'll do everything in accord with the agreement."

Backstory

On August 8, Georgia made an ill-fated attempt to recapture the breakaway province of South Ossetia. Russia responded by sending in tanks, defeating Georgia's army and occupying areas of Georgia beyond. Last month Russian president Dmitry Medvedev agreed to a French-brokered truce, under which Russia has to pull its forces out of the "buffer zone" adjacent to South Ossetia and Abkhazia, a second breakaway province, by October 10. The zone has seen killing, looting and ethnic cleansing by South Ossetian militias.